Bed-bottom



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

T. E. OBRIEN.

BED BOTTOM.

No. 365,272. Patented June 21, 1887.

Z Q/z' o C J J o a Z I a H fi (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

T. E. OBRIEN.

BED BOTTOM. 365272- Patented June 21, 1887.

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UNITED STATES PATENT Genres,

THOMAS E. OBRIEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BED-BOTTOM.

$PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 365,272, dated June 21, 1887.

Application filedhlarch l9, IP87.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS E. OBRIEN, of Chicago, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bed-Bottoms, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to bed bottoms in which a coilwire or other elastic fabric is secured to the end rails of the frame, which are supported sufficiently above the plane of the side rails to hold the fabric taut above them, and in which an auxiliary support is employed to aid in supporting the fabric at or near the center.

In bedbottoms of this class the fabric is attached to the end rails under considerable tension, and when under the weight of the occupant yields so as to fall below the plane of the end rails. The end rails cannot, therefore, conveniently be supported at the center so as to resist the constant strain of the fabric, together with theincreased strain of the imposed weight, inuse, and the consequence is that unless the end rails are made very heavy and of the best timber they will yield so as to become permanently'curved or bent in materially at the center and cause the fabric to become too slack at this point. To obviate this difficulty, I propose to provide such bed-bottom with an auxiliary support adapted and arranged to throw the strain of imposed weight upon the corners of the bedbottom frame, and thus lessen the strain at the centers of the end rails,so that they will serve equally well when made materially lighter than usual. I attain this object by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a bottom view of a bed-bottom of the class mentioned containing my improvement. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 a fragment of an enlarged longitudinal section. Fig. 4 is a bottom view showing a modification. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section on line a: st of Fi 4.

My improvement consists in an auxiliary support so constructed that it may be attached only at its outer corners to the bed-bottom frame A A, and when so attached will support springs bearing against the under side of the fabric B at the center and relieve the centers of the end rails of the superaddcd strain of any imposed weight on the fabric.

Serial No. 231,498. (No model.)

The auxilary support consists of two angular metal strips or rods, 0, one at each end, connected by wires D, the shortest of which is attached at the angles 0 of the strips. From this point the wires increase in length upon each side untilthe outer edges are reached. The strips are provided with holes 0, or equivalent means for attaching the hooked ends d of the wires. At or near the center the wires connect with horizontal springs E, which rest against the under side of the fabric and support the same through the tensile strength of the wires D, the springs yielding under the imposed weight. I do not wish, however, to confine myself to this form of spring, as the wires D, made in one continuous length, or connected by links 0, may support the ordinary furniture-springs, E, interposed between them and the fabric in the usual manner, as shown in the modification, of applying such springs bet-ween the fabric and the ordinary support.

The auxiliary support thus constructed is rigidly attached to'the bed-bottom frame by having the outer ends of the strips 0 attached by a screw or belt, a", to the end rails at or near their outer ends, so that all of the weight imposed on the upper surface of the fabric B which in any manner bears upon the auxiliary support will be sustained wholly by the attachment at the bolts 6*.

The angle-strips O are preferably made in two pieces, which are connected together at the angle 0 by each piece having a hole, 0, at the end, through which the hook (I may be passed, so as to secure the lapped ends together by means of this hook. The wires D and strips G are made separate, so as to be readily connected together or taken apart. In this way the support is adapted to be made as a separate thing from the bed-bottom, and may be packed and shipped as a separate article, and readily attached to any ordinary wire bed-bottom in which the fabric has become too slack in the center, either from long use or the bending in of the end rails at the center, as before described.

I am aware that a truss-rod connected to the inner face of each of the end rails of a bedbottom has heretofore been shown in combination with an extensible strut for the purpose of giving increased tension to the central portion of IOC the coils of fabric without equally increasing the tension of the marginal coils, this'being. effected by the elongation of the strut causing an outward curvature of the end rails at the center after the fabric has been attached; and also that elastic supports have been attached at and extended diagonally from the corners of the frame, crossing each other at the center of the fabric and supporting its central portion, but not the marginal coils; and also that a series of rods or slats connected at the center by springs have been attached to the end rails and extended along under the fabric in a manner to support it, and from one margin to the other; but none of these constructions contains my invention, nor is designed to secure the object thereof, which is to support the fabric across the central portion at about the point where the larger portion of the imposed weight comes in use by an auxiliary support under the fabric, andsnpportecl by connecting its corners only to or near to the corners of the mattress-frame, so that the auxiliary support will not bear on the end rails, as heretofore, at or along the central portion thereof.

What I- claim is-- l. A support for elastic bed-bottoms, consisting of two angle-strips, O 0, provided with a series of holes, a, aseries of wires, D, provided with hooks dat each end, adapted to engage the holes 0, and a series of springs, E, adapted to be supported by the wires D, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the auxiliary support consisting of two angle-strips O C, a series of 5 longitudinal wires, D, provided with hooks d, adapted to engage the strips 00, and a series of springs supported by wires D, in combination with the frame A A and fabric B, the said auxiliary support being connected, to said. frame at the points'c only, and the parts being arranged substantially as and for the purpose specified.

THOMAS E. O BRIEN.

Witnesses:

JOHN H. WHIPPLE, JAMES R. DEAN. 

